Israeli Civilian Seriously Wounded in Knife Attack in Gaza

September 6, 1985

JERUSALEM (Sep. 5)

A 28-year-old Israeli driver of an oil truck was seriously wounded in a knife attack in Gaza today. The man, a resident of Beersheba, was not immediately identified. He underwent surgery at a hospital and reportedly is out of danger.

The assault occurred while the driver was making a delivery at a Gaza gasoline station. Two youths attacked him from behind and stabbed him three times in the back and chest. Security forces clamped a curfew on Falastin Square in the center of the city and began a search for the assailants. Several suspects were arrested.

Unrest continued in the West Bank. Two fire bombs were thrown at an Israeli bus outside Nablus today, shattering the windshield. No one was hurt. The bus belongs to the Dan cooperative. Security forces are searching the area. Two shops near the scene of the attack were ordered closed for three days by the military authorities.

Meanwhile, militant Jewish settlers, fully armed, paraded through the streets of the Arab town of Ramallah in the West Bank today in what they said was a demonstration of force to teach the Arab populace that Jews would not be intimidated by the recent attacks on them in the territory. The militants said they planned to do the same in other Arab towns.

The demonstration followed Tuesday’s fatal knife attack on an Israeli soldier in Hebron and the wounding of another soldier there.